No one besides the Romanians themselves really believed that they could win.
The Romanian-Habsburg War
The first war fought by the new Romanian State was indeed a very strange one. The Austrian historians, trying to minimize the magnitude of the defeat called it
The Fake War.
The Romanian Voivode, called
Viteazul (the Brave) was even branded a coward thanks to his unusual approach to hostilities. Or, better said, lack of hostilities. Because the four month long war witnessed no battles. Not even one direct battle. Only minor skirmishes and a few sieges.
The German historiography have insisted to this day that the Austrian army was actually undefeated. It just... vanished.
Late September, Slovakia (Upper Hungary)
The only way to get to Romania was through Upper Hungary.
Its Eastern part was controlled by the newly proclaimed Principality of Slovakia in personal union and military alliance with Mihai's Romania.
The Slovak rebels were obviously no match for the large and powerful Habsburg army. They retreated towards the Carpathians without engaging the Habsburgs. Besides some small night attacks, the Habsburgs marched through southern Slovakia almost unmolested.
Now the Emperor had three choices:
1. Temporarily stop the advance towards Romania and push northwards into the Slovak Carpathian strongholds in order to completely crush the Slovak Uprising.
2. Ignore the almost harmless Slovaks and invade Romania as planned. The Slovaks would be dealt with after the victorious conclusion of the war against the Romanians.
3. Leave some soldiers behind to fight the Slovaks and continue advancing towards Romania with the bulk of the army.
Rudolf chose the third option and left almost ten thousand soldiers scattered throughout Slovakia. Most historians consider this a fatal mistake.
October 1601, Satmar & Transylvania, Romania
Rudolf was now almost completely recovered from his battle with the life-threatening smallpox. His soldiers were however hit hard by a typhus epidemic. Despite this, the morale was still rather good, typhus being considered a normal occurence in war times. Besides, the army was well fed because of foraging in the rich agricultural lands of southern Upper Hungary and widespread looting and raping made many men happy.
They arrived on the right bank of the Tissa river at dusk and prepared to cross it in the morning.
Heavy cannon fire from across the river during the night only made the soldiers eager to fight in anticipation of a first battle with a real enemy in the morning.
They would be proven wrong. The following morning, there was no one on the Romanian side of the Tissa. No army, nothing. Just a deserted camp, 12 cannons, wagons and flags.
After the environs were properly scouted and no Romanians were found, the bulk of the army crossed the river and began to advance deeper and deeper into the massive Romanian Lands.
A surreal monotonous pattern would slowly emerge.
During the day, they advanced through barren lands devoid of any life. All villages were deserted, the fields burned, the wells poisoned or dried out, holes dug in the already decrepit roads.
At night they were attaked by light formations of ten to a hundred warriors or peasants which wrecked some havoc and then quickly retreated unless sometimes killed or captured.
From time to time they were met by some cannon fire while they least expected. The cannons were usually left behind by the fleeing Romanians.
The Habsburgs were pleased at first. They were able to advance quite fast and to capture large ammounts of cannons and other military equipment.
They began to realize later that all the captured equipment had to be carried, which meant an extra burden. The number of Romanian flags collected was simply mind-blowing. It soon became obvious that they were left behind on purpose. After the Habsburgs stopped collecting them as trophies as was usually done, no more flags were found.
By the end of the month the situation had become dire: no real battle fought but more than 15,000 men already dead or missing.
Famine was so widespread and horrendous that some acts of cannibalizing of dead bodies were reported.
Disease was also rampant. Besides the expected typhus, dysentery, smallpox and all sorts of other ailments were ravaging the once great army.
The morale plummeted. The soldiers would have probably tried to desert but they had simply nowhere to run. As much as could be seen in all directions there was nothing, nowhere to find food or shelter, nowhere to go.
The Emperor's state of mind was increasingly precarious. He could be frequently heard mumbling to himself, seldom talking to anyone.
29 October 1601, Sălaj county (Szilágy)
The Croats rebelled and tried to break
en masse from the Imperial army and return home. Heavy fighting ensued, leaving almost 2000 dead and many more wounded. Another 1400 were executed. Although discontent was still brewing there would be no further organized treachery...
1 November 1601, Cluj (Kolozsvár)
The
Rape of Cluj was probably one of the most disgraceful acts commited by the Habsburgs in the Transylvanian campaign. And it was also a
gigantic political blunder.
At the time, Cluj was mainly a Hungarian City. The Hungarians were obviously extremely dissatisfied with Mihai's rule and welcomed the Habsburgs as liberators.
The so called liberators however have just found the first inhabited place after almost a month of marching through unforgiving, deserted territory, facing disease and starvation.
They behaved like beasts. The city was looted, then burned to the ground. Almost all the females, irrespective of age, were raped. Most men were killed, some even tortured.
After three days on unrestricted pillaging, the gap between the invaders and the previously sympathetic Hungarian minority became impossible to bridge. Horrified by the accounts of fleeing eye-witnesses, the other Transylvanian Hungarians came to see Mihai as the
lesser evil.
November 1601, Transylvania, Romania
The resources found in Cluj were utterly insignificant as compared to the actual needs of the army. Although reduced to less than 40,000 men, the daily food quantities required were still enormous. And the way to Alba was even more lacking in any usable resources.
Turda was almost completely deserted. The few people still there probably regreted their decision to stay behind. There was some wealth to be looted but almost no food.
The ability of the Emperor to rule began to be openly questioned by his generals.
The morale was abbysmal. The sensation of impending doom was overwhelming. Some soldiers were actually hallucinating because of starvation and became violent towards their fellow soldiers.
Almost everybody thought that the war was an extremely bad idea. But there was simply no way out. To return home was absolutely out of the question. No one could survive the whole way back without food. The only solutions was to capture Alba and put an end to the war or to go and find food in the not so far away Saxon Seats. Since Alba was closer they continued on their way.
In late November, heavy rain drew the advance of the Habsburg army to a near halt.
23 November 1601, Transylvania, not far from Alba Iulia
In a pitch black night, during a ferocious thunderstorm, an unknown number of Romanians invaded their camp. Contradictory orders were shouted in many languages increasing the chaos.
Not realizing who were the actual attackers, the different nationalities composing the Habsburg army, extremely tired and with their judgement impeded by lack of nutrition, started to fight among themselves in the darkness.
By sunrise, 3000 lay dead. No Romanian was captured alive.
The realization that they were probably lost began to slowly sink in.
7 December 1601, around Alba Iulia
Around 31,000 Habsburg soldiers lay siege to Mihai's Capital.
22 December 1601, around Alba Iulia
Less than 25,000 soldiers were still alive.
Everything was covered in snow. The temperature was below freezing. So, besides starvation and disease, some soldiers were actually freezing to death.
Showing that they have food to spare, the besieged started to throw poisoned food over the walls. Though knowing that it is poisoned, maddened by hunger, some soldiers actually ate it.
The situation became completely untenable.
The generals declared the Emperor incapacitated and decided to leave for
Melnbach (Sebeș).
30 December 1601, near Melnbach
The Mayor of Melnbach refused to open the gates of the city in view of the horrors perpetrated in Cluj as well as his supposed loyalty to the Voivode. Some food was traded for ridiculously high amounts of gold however.
14 January 1602, near Broos (Orăștie)
Denied entry into Broos as well and with the dying soldiers completely incapable of mounting any kind of attack, the Austrian Generals realize that surrender is the only way out. Negotiations begin with the Mayor of Broos while some food is traded.
The weather was absolutely atrocious. During the night, the temperature dropped to more than 30 below zero.
15 January 1602, Broos
The Habsburg army surrenders to the Mayor of Broos. The war is over.
The 19,000 barely living soldiers surrender all their weapons and trade almost all of their money and belongings for food and shelter.
Sadly, they were in such a bad shape that 5000 more would die during the following weeks.
The Emperor was almost catatonic. He used to shake his head from time to time and utter meaningless words, mostly "
pestilence, pestilence".
61,000 exemplarily trained soldiers entered Romania four month previously.
Without fighting any major battle, 47,000 died and the other 14,000 were taken prisoners of war in a small
German city.
The humiliation was hard to comprehend.
21 January 1602, Broos
Mihai arrives in Broos with his army intact.
The Mayor welcomes his Voivode and surrenders all the captured armament and prisoners of war, the Emperor included.
Romania is a small regional power. Nevertheless a power!
